Dolphins coach Joe Philbin more personable, humorous with this year's team

That's a change from a year ago when he was regarded by players as icy and distant

July 6, 2013|By Chris Perkins, Sun Sentinel

DAVIE — There's a new relationship brewing between Dolphins coach Joe Philbin and his revamped team.

Now in his second year, Philbin has his players — guys more in his likeness and to his liking. It's not exactly a group of "yes men," but there aren't nearly as many, let's say, free thinkers, as last year either.

To Philbin's credit, he's loosened up a bit with this year's team and showed a more human side. Late last season a handful of players didn't want to speak on the record for a story about Philbin. They had nothing good to say of the rookie coach and his standoff-ish, robotic ways.

Nowadays the players' attitude toward Philbin, who celebrated his 52nd birthday on July 2, seems to be changing and perhaps it's because Philbin is changing.

During mini-camp Philbin was mentioning how he noticed linebacker Koa Misi's speed and said, "We were watching a tape and there he is, just haulin' ass."

It's not a phrase you'd expect to hear from the buttoned-down Philbin. It's an indication things are different.

"He's more himself, I guess," wide receiver Brian Hartline said. "He doesn't seem as rigid. He's easy to talk to. Probably a combination of that is us, getting used to being around with him. He's a lot of fun. He's got a great sense of humor, and once you get that he's going to be more fun to be around."

And it seems Philbin enjoys being around his team a bit more.

"As of right now, yeah, I like the character of the men that we have on the football team," Philbin said during the June mini-camp. "We've got a ton of work to do, but I think we have good men. When you have men who care about that, that's a good place to start."

Philbin and general manager Jeff Ireland have changed about one-third of the starters from a year ago, mostly through free agency. That means Philbin has players he's chosen, not players that were given to him.

For the most part, Philbin remains relatively stoic.

"He's the same," center Mike Pouncey said. "He's the commander-in-chief, he likes to run a program one way, he's very straight forward about it and he's going to do a great job rebuilding, and building this team from now on out."

But change is there. Philbin is showing a side of himself that goes beyond his dry sense of humor, as quarterback Ryan Tannehill attests. Philbin was almost late to a mini-camp practice last month.

"He was the last one on the practice field," Tannehill said. "He wasn't late, but he was the last one up there. I got everyone to start ripping him as soon as he walked out, because he was the last one."

Defensive end Cam Wake joked the balding Philbin is "letting his hair down, the little hair he does have."

He figures it's a natural progression.

"There's a year more familiarity with the guys, maybe he's loosened up a little bit," Wake said.

One such example came last month when the Dolphins hosted a charity event at a local arcade. Philbin joked wide receiver Rishard Matthews was so bad at the free throw shooting game that even he could beat him.

So they had a competition.

Matthews won the best-of-three by taking the last two games.

"He got lucky," Philbin said.

Philbin is changing, but slowly.

"Not too much, he's still strict," running back Marcus Thigpen said.

"He's still paying attention to detail. He seems a little bit more lenient than he was last year just because he knows a couple of the guys. He didn't really know what to expect coming in last year.

"He's still the same guy, nothing's really changed. He's still as structured as he was last year, and I like it."

Hearing those words from a player might be the biggest signal there's a new relationship brewing between Philbin and his players.